April 13, 2018 … All For One …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2017 - Day 103 

Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK …  Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics of the group Casting Crowns singing … If We Are The Body … poignantly singing of how we Christians need to be the Body of Christ reaching out in unity to serve our Lord.

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Highlight Verse[s]: 1 Corinthians 14:26 [NLT] … 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 
… When one in Christ’s Body suffers, we all suffer; … when one is honored, we all celebrate. 
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1 Corinthians 12:14-26 [NLT] …USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Paul, teaches on “the Body of Christ” and it’s unity to serve our Lord with all of its parts.
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Reference Passage : … Ephesians 1:22-23, 4:12-13 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Again, Paul teaches Christians about the unity of Christ’s Body, … the Church.

Reference Passage : … Colossians 1:18, 2:19 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… And even more, Paul shows how Christ created all parts of his Body to work TOGETHER for His glory.

My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Linda Washington, used a personal story to teaching how one one part of the body can effect pain in the entire body when one has a kidney stone. … The ODB author wrote: When a coworker called in sick due to extreme pain, everyone at the office was concerned. After a trip to the hospital and a day of bed rest, he returned to work and showed us the source of that pain—a kidney stone. He’d asked his doctor to give him the stone as a souvenir. Looking at that stone, I winced in sympathy, remembering the gallstone I had passed years ago. The pain had been excruciating. Isn’t it interesting that something so small can cause a whole body so much agony?

Fellow Christian, … are you in a small group, perhaps a church discipleship group, a Sunday-School class, or a mission team? If one of these, our fellow Christians in the Body of Christ, were to be diagnosed with cancer or be in a serious accident, … how would we feel? I’d sure hope we’d ache in either sympathetic or empathetic agony.

But DO WE?! …

And the opposite case scenario should also be true. When one of our Christian body members is honored or experiences victory, we should all feel in a mood to celebrate.

But DO WE?! …

I’m afraid all too often that “All for ONE and ONE for all” attitude which Paul taught in the passages above is missing in the Body of Christ. Too often, in many Christian group settings or endeavors, we see “Lone Ranger” Christians feeling like they need to stand out for their individual achievement or even for their individual pain.

Brother or Sister in Christ’s Body, please take the time to hear Casting Crown singing about the Body of Christ in today’s linked song; and then, … let’s pray today - TOGETHER - that all of us, who love the Lord and serve Him in the Body of Christ, declare that we are ALL FOR ONE today …and all days … for His glory.

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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Lord, Jesus, thank You for bringing me into Your Body to serve You.
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My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … I pray, Lord, that I will be able to join with others in Your Body to serve You and glorify Your Name today. … Amen

PS: A personal note: … On this date 35 year ago, God’s Spirt broke me to a place where I could be birthed into the Body of Christ. So, may I loudly declare today a very personal … ”HALLELUJAH!!!” 

Blogger Note:  Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries.  If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.